Bellator veteran Patricky Freire watched Azerbaijan’s Tofiq Musaev kick off the night at Rizin FF 20 with a blistering finish of Johnny Case, then stepped through the ropes and delivered an even more vicious performance as he surged into the Rizin lightweight grand prix final in stunning style.
Musaev had just dominated Case with his heavy-handed strikes en route to a two-minute, 45-second TKO victory to book his place in the tournament final at the Saitama Super Arena. But Freire (28-3 MMA, 2-0 Rizin) was clearly in the mood to leave no doubt about his status as the most devastating striker in the tournament.
Freire found his target with his heavy punches almost instantly and, after dropping the outmatched Gustavo (10-2 MMA, 2-2 Rizin) with a counter left, “Pitbull” moved in and connected with a soccer kick to the ribs before landing a powerful salvo of punches.
Gustavo gamely attempted to return to his feet, but was put on the seat of his pants by two clubbing rights from Freire, who then put the exclamation point on his performance by signing off with a soccer kick just before the referee dived in to end the contest.
It took the Bellator star just 28 seconds to deliver a major statement as he catapulted himself into the final in emphatic fashion.
